Is it possible to recode a simple snippet of PHP to javascript?

Question

I've got the following bit of code on an intranet site that displays a different employee name every week - it cycles through the staff array. It basically updates the site with who is in charge of some maintenance on that particular week.

<?php  
$staff = array('John', 'Mike', 'Chris');
echo $staff[((time()+3*24*3600)/(7*24*3600)) % count($staff)];
?>

We've had to take the site offline for a while and we're directly accessing the page in our browser (not running through a web server).

Is there any way to adapt the code above to function in Javascript? I haven't used Javascript in ages and I figured it might be the best bet, but I'm a) not sure if it's possible and b) not sure how to go about it.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-02 18:53:07Z

5

This looks simple enough.

var staff = ['John', 'Mike', 'Chris'];
var selected = staff[ Math.floor(((Date.now()/1000) + 3*24*3600) / (7*24*3600)) % staff.length ];

console.log(selected);

NOTE: I use (Date.now()/1000) because time() returns seconds and Date.now() returns milliseconds.

NOTE 2: I use Math.floor as ((Date.now()/1000) + 3*24*3600) / (7*24*3600) might not return a whole number (and JavaScript returns different results than PHP when using % with decimals).

edited Aug 2, 2012 at 18:53

answered Aug 2, 2012 at 18:45

gen_Eric

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2 Comments

Radu Over a year ago

Only thing you might want to watch out for is Date.now() compatibility with IE < 9.

gen_Eric Over a year ago

@Radu: Didn't realize that was an issue... dammit IE.

Jose Vega · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-02 19:45:00Z

1

Try this:

var timeInMilliseconds = new Date().getTime();
var timeInSeconds = Math.floor(timeInMilliseconds / 1000);

var staff = ["John","Mike","Chris"];
alert(staff[Math.floor((timeInSeconds + 3*24*3600)/(7*24*3600)) % staff.length]);

Output

Chris

Notes: Added the Math.floor to force a whole number.

edited Aug 2, 2012 at 19:45

answered Aug 2, 2012 at 18:39

Jose Vega

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3 Comments

Radu Over a year ago

Use [] instead of new Array(), and replace document.write() with anything else

TaraNDucal Over a year ago

Odd. Every time I run it, I get a different output.

Jose Vega Over a year ago

@user1572254 you were right, I was missing part of the formula, should be good to go now.

Nev Stokes · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-02 18:35:16Z

0

This was doing the rounds the other week and may be of interest: http://phpjs.hertzen.com/

answered Aug 2, 2012 at 18:35

Nev Stokes

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4 Comments

TaraNDucal Over a year ago

Hmm... It looks promising, but when I try it I get: Notice: Undefined variable: false in /console.htm on line 1 I'm not sure if the formatting of my PHP code is off. It looks okay to me.

Nev Stokes Over a year ago

I've not used it myself yet. You could also have a look at phpjs.org to see if that gives you an alternative.

Chuck Over a year ago

It's interesting, but hilariously excessive for something as simple as this. That there is a jackhammer and this problem is a nail.

Nev Stokes Over a year ago

I agree @Chuck but thought it was worth sharing. As for the issues that the OP ran into I think the problem lies in the (time()+3*24*3600)/(7*24*3600) % count($staff) equation resulting in a float

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